The USC Research Center for Wellness in the Built Environment will focus on how buildings have a direct effect on the environment and the comfort, wellbeing, and quality of life of its occupants. Even though a building’s geometry, façade, and indoor space quality all have a major effect on environmental and physiological performance, most building performance-related research centers focus on engineering systems and computational process-centered approaches and exclude qualitative or human-centered design processes. At this contemporary moment – the impacts of climate change and the built environment on human health is a critical issue – as it places a responsibility on designers to utilize their skills to deploy technology and building science to improve health and wellness for all persons, no matter what their class, identity or location.